No Signings On The Horizon – This One Closest To Being Completed

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

8:19am Thursday, July 6th, 2017

Commented 15 times

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Unfortunately the Chronicle are reporting today there are no new deals near to competition for Newcastle, so we’re not sure what Lee Charnley was referring to a week ago when he mentioned that some deals (plural) were close to being completed to the Fans Forum.

We have signed Florian Lejeune from Eibar and he will be showcased at the Benton training ground today, but we were hoping for one or two more players to be signed this week.

Well – we must be more patient!

The nearest one to completion seems to be 26 year-old Andre Gray who has repeatedly failed to agree a new deal at Burnley and has reached an impasse with recent contract discussions.

26 year-old Burnley striker Andre Gray He could cost more than £10M even though he just has one year left on his contract at Burnley.

West Ham United are the other club interested in signing the forward and generally we should be able to get a decent deal on a player who has just one year left on his contract.

But this summer is another crazy transfer window, with the top clubs seemingly trying to out do each other on how much they can pay for one player.

Arsenal yesterday signed our former target Alexandre Lacazette for a whopping £53M and three years ago there was a report we covered that Newcastle and Lyon had agreed a fee that could rise to £15M with add-ons for the French striker – how things have changed.

Burnley seem to be realizing they will lose Gray this summer and they are now close to signing Jon Walters from Stoke City, and if that deal goes through as expected, they will let Andre Gray move on.

The Northern Echo are reporting today the Hammers are willing to pay £12M for Gray, but Newcastle will bid for the player and it will be a competitive bid, so let’s hope Rafa can persuade Andre to join the Rafalution on Tyneside.

The report is Rafa definitely wants Andre Gray at the club and even thinks he could be under-valued at £12M, so maybe we can even outbid West Ham for the player?

If Andre doesn’t want to come – so be it – since we only want players who want to come to the new Newcastle.

15 comments so far

I posted a few days ago about difficulties in shifting out our no longer wanted players (the deadwood that we hope can be some other clubs new wood) and the impasse we are in seems to be likely to continue.

The overpricing of players because of the Sky money burning holes in Clubs pockets (Everton’s for example) exacerbated a difficult market for us. Not sure if Huddersfield buys other than Mooy (?) would have enthralled many on here so still not panicking about our slow progress compared to other promotees.

What is further complicating our business is do you buy in yet fail to shift the player you intend to replace. It seems our buys last year are on more than decent wages (by Championship standards) and players interesting clubs there may not be interested in a drop down again. We may like to sell but the player wants to have chance at PL. Rafa may have to strongly indicate that such players he has identified as no longer needed are not going to be in OR AROUND the squad.

All of the difficulties we face in what is perhaps the worst season yet for promoted clubs do make it difficult for Charnley to steer a way through. Patience is required and I trust that Rafa has the experience to see this and advise and guide Charnley through the process whilst staying in his remit.

That highly reliable source of News the Daily Star reckons West Ham have bid £15m for Gray – either we go and get him or Andy Caroll is surplus to their requirements.

Sanchez wants £400,000 a week to stay at Arsenal, leaving Rooney frustrated and only like to get his basic wage of £250,000 a week to go back to Everton. Where is Jeremy Corbyns tax regime when to want it ! Unreal.

The last time we got promoted we hardly signed any one of note bar a bargain Chiek Tiote and the sulky HBA, we sacked a popular manager and replaced him with a sacked league one chance. After a year back in the PL we had an elderly scout scour and pick Europe’s market for out of contract or suspectible failed medical players for his lower league con man coach and people saw it as the beginning of a revolution and defended the policy blindly. Now we have a World Class manager in place who is seemingly here to build something special and people aren’T happy. What a strange world we live in.

Not surprised we haven’t got too many irons in the fire to be honest. Not being down on the club at all, its silly season and there’s so much rubbish being spun by agents, selling clubs and fake ITKs that it’s all becoming just ‘noise’. One really important change at NUFC was replacing Carr with Steve Nickson. The bloke really seems like a breath of fresh air in the scouting system. The Chronicle has a fantastic article on the change and the bloke’s philosophy and why Rafa wanted him in that position. It also gives an insight into why we havent just spunked crazy money on players who have gone elsewhere. Nickson will have a huge impact on the club moving forward if he gets even half the time Carr had. Well worth 5 minutes of your time to read.

We actually dont need to add much to our squad especially if the players returning from loan are motivated enough to prove a point, players stay relatively fit and Rada and his coaching team work their majic

It would appear that some journalists are reporting the names of players we once had an interest in as possibilities now ie Das Boot. This I cannot believe as Rafa will have his own set of requirements and objectives which I would be astonished if they were the same as that of the previous failed managers.

I like Gray but I like Shane long better such a work horse for the team every manager wants one of them closing down, tackling setting the thone a season with rafa would even improve his deficiencies, Grosicki was very impressive for Hull last season too can cross the ball for fun always in the thick of things.

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Transfers Summer 2017

Player

Fee

Club

INCOMING

Christian Atsu

£6.2M

Chelsea

Florian Lejeune

£8.8M

Eibar

Jacob Murphy

£10M

Norwich

Javier Manquillo

£4.5M

Atletico Madrid

Mikel Merino

£2.5M Loan – season

Borussia Dortmund

Kenedy

Loan – season – pending

Chelsea

Joselu

£5.0M

Stoke City

Transfer Fees In

£37.0M

OUTGOING

Vurnon Anita

Released

Aston Villa

Sammy Ameobi

Released

Bolton

Haris Vuckic

Released

FC Twente

Lubo Satka

Released

FC DAC 1904

Florian Thauvin

£10.0M

Marseille

Kevin Mbabu

£1.0M

Young Boys

Matz Sels

Loan – season

Anderlecht

Yoan Gouffran

Released

Goztepe

Adam Armstrong

Loan – season

Bolton

Lewis Gibson

£1.0M Up to £5M in add-ons

Everton

Daryl Murphy

£2.0M

Nottingham Forest

Ivan Toney

Loan – season

Wigan Athletic

Transfer Fees Out

£14.0M

Net Spend

£23M

Preseason Friendlies 2017

Club

Location

Date

Hearts Won 2-1

Tynecastle

Friday 14th July 7:45pm

Preston Drew 1-1

Deepdale

Saturday 22nd July 3:00pm

Bradford Won 4-0

Valley Parade

Wednesday 26th July 7:30pm

Mainz 05 Lost 2-1

Opel Arena, Mainz

Saturday 29th July 4:00 pm local time

Wolfsburg Won 3-1

AOK Stadium, Wolfsburg

Wednesday 2nd August 4:00pm local time

Hellas Verona Wopn 2-0

St. James’ Park

Sunday 6th August 3:00pm

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.